Milwaukee Times Weekly Newspaper Digital Edition Issue May 25, 2023

Alverno College celebrates students of color with rites of passage Events

In a tradition that goes back more than 25 years, Alverno College honored graduating students of color in various cultural ceremonies on Saturday, May 13, 2023.

Since 1994, Alverno has held a Bestowing of the Kente, a rite of passage recognizing black students who are graduating seniors, earning a master’s degree, or completing a certification program. Each honoree is presented with a Kente cloth – a hand-woven ceremonial stole featuring bright colors that honor West African heritage. During the ceremony, the students honor and thank the loved ones who have supported them on their educational journeys. The ceremony is a way for black students and their families to celebrate their heritage as well as their achievement. Alverno is one of only a handful of colleges in the U.S. that recognize black graduates with the Bestowing of the Kente ceremony separate from graduation, and more than 900 people have taken part in the ceremony since its

with bestowing the Kente, there were special ceremonies

inception. This ceremony took place at in the Bucyrus Conference Center. Along

horning Latino and Asian students

Pictured at the event are (front row, from left) Mariah Erby, Rayona Howled, De’Miesha McKnight-Taylor, Riki Nelson, Napewter Wisdom, Carissa Bonds, Layla Johnson; (back row, from left) Retiki Seals, Janae Wright, Tara Martin, Alona McMurtry, Keonna Munoz, Theressa Taylor, and Trila Pitchford

Though they were not always respected when they served, they nevertheless fought for our country.

This Memorial Day let us honor our Black Men and Women who served in the Military and protected our freedom; and give them the respect they so rightly deserv!

MPS mourns loss of principal McWilliams at WCLL

The Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) community is mourning the loss of Stanley W. McWilliams, the beloved principal of Wisconsin Conservatory of Lifelong Learning (WCLL). McWilliams, 54, passed away May 20, 2023.

A proud alumnus of Rust College, a historically black college in Holly Springs, MS, McWilliams served the K4 through 12th-grade students at WCLL as principal since

Deepest sympathies extended to family, students, and colleagues

July 2016.

He dedicated more than 30 years to serving the students and families of MPS and began as a teacher at Fritsche Middle School. He served as assistant principal at North Division High School beginning in August 1992. He next became assistant principal of Hamilton High School in August 2003 and assistant principal at Washington High School in August 2006.

He returned to North Division as its principal in July 2011, remaining there for five years until becoming principal at WCLL. McWilliams was a Black Excellence Awards honoree in 2000.

Wisconsin Conservatory of Lifelong Learning students and staff and the MPS community will greatly miss Principal McWilliams and his commitment to the district’s students and families. MPS extends its heartfelt condo-

lences to his family, students, colleagues, and friends.

Milwaukee Public Schools will provide support to the students and staff at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Lifelong Learning and throughout the district.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

WCLL is located at 1017 N, 12th Street, Milwaukee, 53233.

Groundbreaking held to celebrate new MLK Library Apartments

Nearly 100 new apartments and a new public library are coming to Milwaukee. A ceremony celebrating the groundbreaking was held for the MLK Library Apartments Friday, May 19, 2023.

The $38-million project will transform the 2900 block of Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive into 93 affordable apartments, and a new 18,000-square-foot public library branch.

"This project is just one step forward in making our king drive not only the best, but the place where people come from other cities to see what we're doing in order to take back to their cities to improve their community," said Deshea Agee, vice president of the Emem Group LLC who is overseeing the project. The grand opening is expected to be held next summer.

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN

The Milwaukee Times Weekly Newspaper

Louvenia Johnson Luther Golden Nathan Conyers (1981-2008) (1981-2005) (1981- 2018 )

Harold D. Turner, Sr., Publisher Jacquelyn D. Heath, Editorial Page Editor

Publisher/President

Harold D. Turner, Sr.

Graphic Artists

William Gooden

Michelle Anibas

Founders

Louvenia Johnson Nathan Conyers Luther Golden

The Milwaukee Times Weekly newspaper is published each Thursday at 2238 N. MLK Dr., Milwaukee, WI 53212 Telephone: 414-263-5088 • Fax: 414-263-4445

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Event Photo

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CHILD WATCH

By: Marian Wright Edelman Founder And President Emerita Children's Defense Fund

A lesson from Ambassador James Joseph

I recently attended a memorial service for my dear friend and former Children’s Defense Fund Board Chair Ambassador James Joseph. Ambassador Joseph was a civil rights, corporate, and philanthropic leader, including his transformative service as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Council on Foundations and a co-founder and chair of the Association of Black Foundation Executives, and a lifelong public servant. He was an advisor to four U.S. presidents beginning with President Carter, and in 1995 was appointed as the U.S. Ambassador to South Africa by President Clinton.

It was a crucial moment following Nelson Mandela’s 1994 election as South Africa’s first black president, and Ambassador Joseph became the only American ambassador to present his credentials to President Mandela as he worked closely with his new administration. He witnessed firsthand South Africa’s early post-apartheid struggles as it

sought to move away from its legacy of white supremacy, legal segregation, and racial violence towards a new future striving for truth and reconciliation, and could see the parallels between South Africa’s history and our own. He also held out hope for what both nations could become.

His own early experiences of America’s history came from his childhood in Opelousas, LA, a state KKK headquarters where he remembered lynchings and racial violence as common facts of life. Later, after graduating from Southern University and earning a master’s degree in divinity from Yale University, he returned South to serve on the faculty of Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, AL, another KKK stronghold, where he became a leading figure in the local civil rights movement. He participated in protests where he was attacked and beaten and received death threats. But these were the years that shaped his hope

for the future. As he put it decades later, “I have been able to remain hopeful in the midst of great adversity because I learned early in life to make a distinction between hope and optimism. It is not just hope-theologians but hope-psychologists as well who remind us that optimism adopts the role of the spectator who surveys the evidence in order to infer that things are going to get better. Hope, on the other hand, enacts the stance of the participant who is able to look beyond the evidence and see alternative possibilities…The truth is that hope is not so much an act of memory as it is an act of imagination and

courage.”

“There is reason for hope because moments of crisis are often moments of great possibility. These are the moments when we need to remind ourselves that we did it before and we can do it again… That was one of the reasons why the mass meeting was a staple of our movement. Before every street march or public demonstration, we assembled in a church or auditorium, usually a church, to inspire and persuade each other not simply to face the hostile bystanders, the police dogs, and those behind them with clubs and cattle prods. We had to keep those who stood with us focused on the potential of the human spirit as well. It was that same potential that enabled us to keep hope alive in what appeared to others to be almost hopeless situations. As [Dr. King] put in one of our mass meetings, ‘Basic to our philosophy is a deep faith in the future. Ours is a movement based on hope because when hope fades the movement dies'.”

Ambassador Joseph also loved to quote Czech leader and writer Vaclav Havel: “I am not an optimist because I do not believe that everything ends well. Nor am I a pessimist because I do not believe that everything ends badly. But I could not ac-

complish anything if I did not have hope within me, for the gift of hope is as big as the gift of life itself.” It was fitting that South Africa awarded Ambassador Joseph the Order of Good Hope, its highest honor bestowed on a citizen of another country, because he sustained the gift of good hope his entire life.

During a 2020 interview, Ambassador Joseph had the chance to look back over his lifetime of experiences and connect them to the growing movements for racial justice following George Floyd’s murder, and was asked what he would say to the next generation of social activists. He answered: “This is your moment. A lot of attention is given to our movement in the ’60s, but those were different times. We accomplished a lot, and we left a lot undone. This is your opportunity to complete the American Revolution.” This is a reason for hope.

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the writer and not of the Milwaukee Times Weekly Newspaper or HT Group, LLC, its staff or management. "Child Watch" is a weekly column available at https://www.childrensdefense. org/child-watch-columns.

CHURCH LISTINGS ARE IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER: ABIDING FAITH FELLOWSHIP B.C. to COMMUNITY BAPTIST CHURCH OF GREATER MILWAUKEE

“Discover Your Abundant Faith”

Faith

CHURCH LISTINGS ARE IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER:

COMMUNITY OF GRACE BAPTIST

Lamb

(website) www.TheLambMKE.org

/TheLambMKE

Rev. Dr. F. L. Crouther, Pastor

The overlooked black history of Memorial Day

Nowadays, Memorial Day honors veterans of all wars, but its roots are in America’s deadliest conflict, the Civil War. Approximately 620,000 soldiers died, about twothirds from disease.

The work of honoring the dead began right away all over the country, and several American towns claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day. Researchers have traced the earliest annual commemoration to women who laid flowers on soldiers’ graves in the Civil War hospital town of Columbus, MS, in April 1866. But historians such as the Pulitzer Prize winner David Blight have tried to raise awareness of freed slaves who decorated soldiers’ graves a year earlier, to make sure their story gets told, too.

According to Blight’s 2001 book Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory, a commemoration organized by freed slaves and some white missionaries took place on May 1, 1865, in Charleston, SC, at a former planters’ racetrack where Confederates held captured Union soldiers during the last year of the war. At least 257 prisoners died, many of disease, and were buried in unmarked graves, so black residents of Charleston decided to give them a proper burial.

In the approximately 10 days leading up to the event, roughly two dozen African American Charlestonians reorganized the graves into rows and built a 10-foot-tall white fence around them. An archway overhead spelled out “Martyrs of the Race Course” in black letters.

About 10,000 people, mostly black residents, participated in the May 1 tribute, according to coverage back then in the Charleston Daily Courier and the New York Tribune. Starting at 9 a.m., about 3,000 black schoolchildren paraded around the race track holding roses and singing the Union song “John Brown’s Body,” and were followed by adults representing aid societies for freed black men and women. Black pastors delivered sermons and led attendees in prayer and in the singing of spirituals, and there were picnics. James Redpath, the white director of freedman’s education in the region, organized about 30 speeches by Union officers, missionaries and black ministers. Participants sang patriotic songs like “America” and “We’ll Rally Around the Flag” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.” In the afternoon, three white and black Union regiments marched

around the graves and staged a drill.

The New York Tribune described the tribute as “a procession of friends and mourners as South Carolina and the United States never saw before.” The gravesites looked like “one mass of flowers” and “the breeze wafted the sweet perfumes from them” and “tears of joy” were shed.

This tribute, “gave birth to an American tradition,” Blight wrote in Race and Reunion: “The war was over, and Memorial Day had been founded by African Americans in a ritual of remembrance and consecration.”

In 1996, Blight stumbled upon a New York Herald Tribune article detailing the tribute in a Harvard University archive — but the origin story it told was not the Memorial Day history that many white people had wanted to tell, he argued.

About 50 years after the Civil War ended, someone at the United Daughters of the Confederacy asked the Ladies Memorial Association of Charleston to confirm that the May 1, 1865, tribute occurred, and received a reply from one S.C. Beckwith:

“I regret that I was unable to gather any official information in answer to this.” Whether Beckwith actually knew about the tribute or not, Blight argued, the exchange illustrates “how white Charlestonians suppressed from memory this founding.”

A 1937 book also incorrectly stated that James Redpath singlehandedly organized the tribute — when in reality it was a group effort — and that it took place on May 30, when it actually took place on May 1. That book also diminished the role of the African Americans involved by referring to them as “black hands which only knew that the dead they were honoring had raised them from a condition of servitude.”

The origin story that did stick involves an 1868 call from General John A. Logan, president of a Union

Army veterans group, urging Americans to decorate the graves of the fallen with flowers on May 30 of that year. The ceremony that took place in Arlington National Cemetery that day has been considered the first official Memorial Day celebration. Memorial Day became a national holiday two decades later, in 1889, and it took a century before it was moved in 1968 to the last Monday of May, where it remains today. According to Blight, Hampton Park, named after Confederate General Wade Hampton, replaced the gravesite at the Martyrs of the Race Course, and the graves were reinterred in the 1880s at a national cemetery in Beaufort, SC.

The fact that the freed slaves’ Memorial Day tribute is not as well remembered is emblematic of the struggle that would follow, as African Americans’ fight to be fully recognized for their contributions to American society continues to this day.

An April 1865 photo of the graves of Union soldiers buried at the race-course-turned-Confederate-prison where historians believe the earliest Memorial Day ceremony took place. Civil war photographs, 18611865, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

Clubhouse at the race course where Union soldiers were held prisoner. Civil war photographs, 1861-1865, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

On Memorial Day, remember our most loyal and ill-treated troops

Hundreds of thousands of African American men enlisted and fought for a nation that saw them as second-class citizens. They deserve our thanks.

Hundreds of thousands of African American men enlisted and fought for a nation that saw them as second-class citizens. They deserve our thanks.

While serving as a sentry with French forces in the Argonne Forest in 1918, a black American private fought off German attackers. Unfazed by his wounds, he hurled grenades until they ran out, shot his rifle until it jammed, used his rifle as a club until it broke, and finally used a bolo knife until reinforcements arrived.

The French recognized Henry Johnson’s heroism with a Croix de Guerre, while the U.S. gave him the Medal of Honor — posthumously, almost 100 years later. Johnson is a part of a long African American military tradition of exceptional devotion to a country that, through its history, denied blacks their rights and discriminated against and humiliated its black soldiers.

These were the men of the iconic 54th Massachusetts

Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War and of the Harlem Hellfighters in World War I, of the Buffalo Soldiers on the frontier and of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen in World War II.

They were always fighting a two-front war — against the enemy in battle and against prejudice at home. They were fighting to prove their mettle, and that they were as — or, more — American than their white countrymen.

They hoped that their patriotic commitment would loosen the grip of racist repression, and they were disappointed, often cruelly so.

Still, they volunteered and, when given the opportunity, fought.

As one observer puts it, “African American military service is older than the United States itself.” Blacks fought in colonial militias in the French and Indian War, and then in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 (although slavery meant they didn’t fight reliably on the American side).

Whites resisted arming black men for fear of rebellions, and they were banned from the army. But it became obvious during the Civil War that they were a ready and

willing extra increment of manpower that the Union couldn’t ignore.

Wary of offending white opinion in the North, Lincoln took cautious steps before embracing black soldiers. He said that at the conclusion of the war “there will be some black men who can remember that with silent tongue, and clenched teeth, and steady eye, and wellpoised bayonet, they have helped mankind on to this great consummation; while, I fear, there will be some white ones, unable to forget that, with malignant heart, and deceitful speech, they have strove to hinder it.”

Roughly 180,000 black soldiers served, about 9 percent of all Union forces. The vast majority were from slave states. In joining up, they risked re-enslavement, or worse, if captured by Confederate forces. In the end, they helped smash the slave system that had held many of them in bondage shortly before their military service.

Of course, the South fashioned a new system of racial repression. At the outset of World War I, W.E.B. Du Bois strongly supported black enlistment, in the hopes that the sacrifice would lead to better treatment. “Let

us, while this war lasts, forget our special grievances and close our ranks shoulder to shoulder with our own white fellow citizens,” he wrote.

African Americans made up more than 200,000 of the 2-million-strong American expeditionary force. But they got more respect from French commanders, who trained and put them on the front lines, than their own commanders. And they returned home to race riots and lynchings.

The dashed hopes of black soldiers throughout much of our history make their faithfulness all the more extraordinary.

William Carney was born a slave in Virginia in 1840, and made it to freedom in Massachusetts. He joined the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment and participated in the harrowing attack on Fort Wagner in South Carolina, depicted in the film Glory

Carney took custody of the flag when the color sergeant was shot down. He held it up under heavy fire and, despite serious wounds, returned it safely to Union lines. “Boys,” he said, “the old flag never touched the ground.”

Life & Memories

MATC graduates more than 1,300 students at 2023 spring commencement

On Sunday, May 21, 2023, Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) hosted its 2023 Spring Commencement at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.

More than 1,300 students received associate degrees, technical diplomas, apprenticeship and adult high school diplomas. In addition, 26 candidates for graduation who have served in the U.S. military received red, white and blue cords from the college.

MATC Outstanding Technical Degree Graduate Julie Laurence Brown delivered the student welcome. Brown received an Aesthetician technical diploma. She received funding from the new, full-ride Ellen and Joe Checota MATC Scholarship

Program and was recognized on the President’s List for her 4.0 GPA. In her pending profession, she plans to use her skills to provide individualized skin care to her clients.

The Outstanding Associate Degree Graduate and student speaker was Brennen Juarez, who earned an associate in applied science degree

in criminal justice studies. A member of the Criminal Justice Student Organization and Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, Juarez plans to use his degree to pursue a career that revolves around serving people and keeping the community safe. Juarez paraphrased famed Italian artist Michelangelo who said, “ancora imparo,” Italian for “still I am learning.” Juarez looked at several career options before choosing a career in law enforcement.

Dr. Valerie Daniels-Carter, president and CEO of V&J Holding Companies Inc., delivered the keynote address. Her company is recognized as the largest female-owned franchise organization in the United States. Within a development span of less than 15 years, Dr. Daniels-Car-

ter’s quick-service restaurant empire comprised real estate and restaurant operations including Auntie Anne’s, Burger King, The Coffee Beanery, Nino’s Southern Sides, myYOmy Frozen Yogurt, Pizza Hut, VJ Café and Captain D’s Seafood.

Dr. Daniels-Carter’s ad-

dress encouraged graduates to embrace their dreams. She told students that they will be faced with many choices and will have to decide which path to take, which career to pursue and which dreams to chase. Follow your dreams, no matter how big or small they may seem, she will advised.

Milwaukee Recreation honors young creatives and teaching artists

On Tuesday, May 16, 2023, Milwaukee Recreation hosted the Partnership for the Arts & Humanities Showcase at historic Turner Hall, celebrating the incredible work of our young people and community arts partners from throughout the 202223 year.

Milwaukee Recreation also recognized the finalists and honorees for two awards: the Outstanding Young Creative of the Year and the Teaching Artist of the Year.

Outstanding Young Creative of the Year

Finalists

• Jackson Knox, Radio Milwaukee's Grace Weber's Music Lab

• Marli Swan-Zawadi, Arts@Large and Signature Dance Company

• Sanaa Thomas, Milwaukee Film

• Alexandria Woods, Milwaukee Repertory Theater

Winner: Sanaa Thomas, Milwaukee Film

Sanaa Thomas, a student at Milwaukee High School of the Arts, has been a stellar participant in Milwaukee Film’s Teen Screen and Take 1: Teen Filmmaking Lab programs throughout high school. She is known as an insightful and curious film viewer, and a thoughtful collaborator and listener, while still demonstrating leadership skills from the beginning.

Her excellence in creating cinematic experiences, as a programmer and filmmaker, has grown immensely. During the 2023 Milwaukee Film Festival, Sanaa co-led selections for Milwaukee Film’s Teen Screen program and

wrote this year’s Teen Screen program philosophy for the film guide. She screened her film Pretty Boys, a profound documentary about masculinity and mental health, in the Milwaukee Youth Show, and she facilitated a Q&A session with director Bomani J. Story (The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster). She also successfully programmed an Education Screening for her peers – students loved their viewing experience and the film selection yielded a fantastic curriculum resource that blew the film team away.

Sanaa constantly strives to further her expertise and understanding of all facets of media arts and film and its social, civic, and cultural potential. Sanaa is incredibly intentional, investigating layers of meaning and impact in films, and is talented at imparting those messages in captivating and purposeful ways.

“I have found I thoroughly enjoy using [film] to shape true stories of under-

represented or just untold voices,” Thomas said. “Milwaukee Film has put me in places with like- and different-minded teens who have forced me to explore other ways of thinking. This in turn, I believe, influenced me into a better creative by helping me be more accepting and welcoming of all stories.”

Teaching Artist of the Year Finalists

• Rén Ayala, Casa Romero Renewal Center

• Coltyn Giltner, First Stage

• Ijoister Harris, Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra

• Dionna Hayden, ArtWorks for Milwaukee

• Jake Horstmeier, Milwaukee Repertory Theater

• Sarah Gail Luther, TransCenter for Youth - Escuela Verde's Newline Community Cafe

• Marco Romantini, Artists Working in Education

• Letasha Smith, Arts@ Large

• Zakia Wells, Artists Working in Education

Winner: Sarah Gail Luther, TransCenter for YouthEscuela Verde's Newline Community Cafe

Sarah Luther, exemplifies what it means to be a teaching artist with her commitment to Escuela Verde’s Community Café. While she is an incredible working artist, she always made time to build some arts education to share her love of the craft.

them to lead programs for each other and the community.

As a project-based school, this seemed too good to be true, yet two years later, Sarah has leveraged resources and gathered community to bring this vision to life. Not only has she taught a wide variety of art classes herself, but she has brought in dozens of working artists to share their craft, and empowered students to lead workshops and showcase their art with the community through intergenerational events, all while building a safe space where people can gather to vision and create together.

for

However, when her neighborhood coffeeshop closed during the pandemic, she took a leap demonstrating a greater commitment to both her community and her commitment to art education. She approached the non-profit TransCenter for Youth, which helps manage the adjacent school, Escuela Verde, and proposed a joint effort to work to reopen the café. She proposed designing programming, with the students providing arts education and

Dr. Valerie Daniels-Carter President and CEO of V&J Holding Companies Inc.

opportunities

Sanaa Thomas, a student at Milwaukee High School of the Arts and pictured here with Milwaukee Recreation director Lynn Greb.

Sarah Luther pictured here holding the award alongside Milwaukee Recreation director Lynn Greb.

The brain isn’t the only place strokes occur; 4 symptoms

Sudden, painless loss of vision. Burning back pain. Achy legs. Incontinence.

People might not recognize these as signs of a stroke, because some are not the symptoms of a stroke in the brain, where most strokes occur. But strokes can happen in other parts of the body, too, according to Dr. Matthew Schrag, an assistant professor of neurology and vascular neurologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN.

Strokes in other body parts

Sudden, total vision loss in one eye may signal a stroke in the eye. Back pain, aching legs and incontinence, along with paralysis, weakness and loss of pain or the ability to feel temperature, signal a stroke in the spine. Though rare, these strokes, just like those in the brain, are serious and require immediate medical attention, Schrag shared.

“They present special challenges and can be harder to recognize, but are theoreti-

cally treatable,” he added.

The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association define stroke as an obstruction of blood supply to the brain, spinal cord or retina that causes cell death. When strokes occur in the brain, symptoms may include numbness in the face, weakness in arms or legs, especially on one side of the body, trouble speaking or understanding speech, vision problems, lack of coordination or a sudden, severe headache.

But blood supply can be obstructed almost anywhere

in the body, said Dr. Lucia Sobrin, a professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

A stroke in the eye –known as central retinal artery occlusion, or CRAO – typically happens when plaque that has built up in a carotid artery, the main arteries on each side of the neck that sends blood to the brain and eyes, breaks loose and travels to the retina. That same plaque also could travel to the brain and cause an ischemic stroke. “It could go either way,” Sobrin noted.

Total vision loss in one eye

typically occurs, but in some cases, a person may only lose partial vision, she said. “They may still be able to perceive light or motion.”

Screenings and treatment

A CRAO isn’t fatal, Schrag said. But vision loss can be permanent if not treated within the first few hours.

“If you suddenly lose vision and it’s painless, think ‘stroke’ and go to the emergency room,” he suggested. “It’s pretty urgent.”

Sobrin and Schrag were co-authors on a 2021 AHA scientific statement advocating for the immediate screening and treatment of CRAO using alteplase, the drug used to dissolve clots causing strokes in the brain. Studies show people with CRAO who are treated with alteplase within 4 1/2 hours of vision loss may have as much as a 50 percent rate of recovery.

Another reason to be seen immediately following a CRAO is that “it’s a sign of serious underlying disease,” Schrag shared. The AHA statement urges immediate screening for other cardiovascular risk factors that require treatment, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, sleep apnea and obesity.

“CRAO is a strong predictor of future heart attacks,

strokes or death,” he added. “So, while this stroke might not kill, the underlying problems might – and require urgent attention.”

Less is known about how to treat strokes that occur in the spine, a rare but dangerous condition, Schrag said.

These can occur because of a blood clot in the arteries leading to the spine. Treatment depends on an individual’s symptoms and may include blood-thinning medication to reduce clotting.

Spinal strokes also may occur during medical procedures if blood pressure drops dramatically or the heart stops and there isn’t enough blood flow, Schrag noted. “Then the solution is to get blood pressure back up before permanent damage can occur.”

Prevention

In general, the same steps people take to prevent strokes in the brain are those recommended to prevent strokes in the eye or spine. These include eating a healthy diet, staying physically active, maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, keeping blood pressure, blood glucose and cholesterol within the target range, getting seven to nine hours of sleep each night, and taking needed medications as prescribed.

SENIOR LIVING

Summer safety tips for seniors

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), seniors are more susceptible to heat-related illnesses and injury. When we age, our bodies become less efficient at regulating temperature because older adults do not sweat as much as younger adults, and sweat is the body’s most important heat-regulating mechanism. Older adults also store fat differently, which can further complicate heat regulation in the body.

This can cause issues in the summer because when the outside temperature rises, so does the body’s internal temperature. Which is why seniors suffer from heat stroke in the summer more often than younger people.

Therefore, seniors have health risks that need to be monitored, especially in the heat of the summer. Following are tips to keep seniors safe and healthy in the rising temperatures of the summer months.

Stay hydrated. Drink eight or more glasses of water and/or fruit juices every day to stay hydrated. Avoid alcoholic and caffeinated beverages such as soda, coffee and tea as they can leave you dehydrated quickly. Increase your intake if you are doing any physical activi-

ty or if the weather is particularly hot.

Stay indoors during extreme heat

In extreme heat and high humidity, evaporation slows down and the body must work extra hard to maintain a normal temperature. Keep in mind, the sun is the most intense between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. If you can, limit your outdoor activity to the morning and the evening.

Stay in an air-conditioned place.

Air-conditioning is important when it is hot and humid outside. If you do

not have air-conditioning in your home, go somewhere that does. A movie theater, the mall, a friend or family member’s home or a community senior center are all good options. You can contact your local Area Agency on Aging for help finding a local cooling center during extended periods of extreme heat.

Know the weather forecast and dress appropriately.

The best clothing to wear in the summertime is loose-fitting and lightweight clothes in natural, breathable fabrics like cotton. Dress in light colors that will reflect the sun and heat instead of darker colors that will absorb them.

Protect your skin and eyes.

Wearing sunglasses can block your eyes from harmful UV rays and protect your vision. When outdoors, protect your skin from damage by wearing hats, sunglasses and a sunscreen of SPF 30 or higher and that protects against both UVA and UVB radiation.

Know the side effects of your prescriptions.

Some medications can cause increased sensitivity to the sun. Look over your medications and talk with your doctor about any concerns or questions you have.

Know the early signs of heat-related illnesses such as dehydration, heat stroke, heat exhaustion, hyperthermia, etc.

Signs to look for may include disorientation, dry

skin, excessive tiredness, headache, lethargy, nausea, a flushed face, high body temperature, rapid pulse, dizziness and confusion. Take immediate action if you feel any symptoms coming on.

Maintain communication with friends, family, caregivers and emergency contacts.

Prepare a list of emergency phone numbers and place them in an easy-to-access area in case needed.

As a caregiver or loved one, you can help seniors beat the heat by:

• Visiting at least twice a day.

• Watching for signs of heat exhaustion or heat stroke.

• Making sure they have access to air conditioning.

• Helping them limit their exposure to the sun.

• Making sure they are getting enough fluids to keep them hydrated and have a normal body temperature.

May 25, 1926 – Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis born.

May 26, 1961 – Marvin Cook named ambassador to Niger Republic; first black envoy to an African nation named by Kennedy Administration.

May 27, 1919 – Madame C.J. Walker, cosmetics manufacturer and first black female millionaire, died.

May 28, 1948 – National Party wins whites-only election in South Africa and begins to institute policy of apartheid.

May 29, 1901 –Granville T. Woods patents overhead conducting system for the electric railway.

May 30, 1965 – Vivian Malone becomes the first African American to graduate from the University of Alabama.

May 31, 1870 –Congress passes the first Enforcement Act, providing stiff penalties for those who deprive others of their civil rights.

May 1st

Shelia Jackson

Linda Estes

May 3rd

Na Tasha Isabell

Alexis Taylor

Josephine Montgomery

Tonia Wells

Tammie Kaine

May 4th

Jackie Jackson

Katherine Jackson

Gloria D. Wilson

May 5th

Chris Brown

Raheem Devaughn

Ike Taylor

Allen Fumbanks

May 6th

Morgan Hills

Meek Mill

Chris Paul

Willie Mays

May 8th

Anthony Fumbanks

James Renfro, Jr.

Natasha N. Banks

May 9th

Duane A. Ingram

Keith Davis

Latoya Wimpy

Billie J. Thomas

Carissa Hart

May 11th

Jaye Syc

Andrew Franks

May 12th

Adrian Saffold

Vanessa Saffold

Ella Ruth Harrel

May 13th

Portia Banks

May 14th

Yolanda Davis

Louis Davis, III

DeWannda Taylor

May 15th

Dion Saffold

Derrick Seals

Riambria Parker

Teaza Wells

Briambria Parker

May 19th

Quiney Matthews

Dorothy Summers

May 20th

Virginia Stricklen-Grady

Terri Goodwin

May 22nd

Chanté Chamberlain

May 23rd

Tonia Moore

May 24th

Andrew Green, Jr.

Deborah Tasker

May 25th

Darion Saffold

May 27th

Zarion Davis

Callie J. Jackson

May 29th

Tracy R. Ingram

May 30th

Evag.

Shirley Tribble

Lorelie Jones

May 31st

Garry L. Ingram

Cyril Fumbanks

Do you have a frienD, family member, church member, or colleague who has just celebrateD or is about to celebrate a birthDay? stop by our office with their name on monDay to get them in that week ’ s eDition of happy birthDay salutes! visit us at 2238 n. Dr martin luther king jr. Drive, call us at (414) 263-5088 or e-mail them to miltimes@gmail com

Mrs. FuMbanks' birthday salutes

"Wishing you all the best!"

Easy. Flexible. Affordable.